We’re married! Lets celebrate together next year!

Dear Family and Friends, In light of the current situation, we understand that now is not the safest time to host a big celebration for our wedding. We have decided to get married as planned on August 8th at 3pm. We invite you all to join us virtually! Information about the ceremony and the link to the livestream will be available under the Marriage Ceremony Tab. We have moved the big reception to 7.3.2021 and can't wait to celebrate and dance with you all then!! You are all in our prayers, please keep us in yours and stay safe! Love, Salam & Jess

About four years ago, Jessica lived in Santa Cruz and would frequently visit Sacramento to visit friends and family. When she would visit, sometimes she would go to St. George Melkite Catholic Church where Salam attended. One Sunday, a mutual friend tried to set them up but Salam had no idea so Jessica continued to only know Salam as the nice man who helped serve in the Holy place. One Sunday, as Jessica was driving away from Church, she looked in her rear view mirror and Salam was there waving goodbye with his big friendly smile. The genuine kindness in his face struck Jessica and was engraved her memory. Fast forward a year later, Jessica moved back to Sacramento and went to St. George regularly. As she got more involved, they eventually ended up talking to each other and were pleasantly surprised how natural conversation was. Around the same time another friend was attempting to set us up, our Priest Father Hezekias talked to Salam and set us up old school style. Salam then formally asked Jessica to talk about the possibility of marriage and the friendship, love and adventure grew so wonderfully from there!

Salam stole Jessica for a night hike....in Yosemite! Jessica had no idea what was going on because crazy random night hikes are a normal part of life. However, Jessica was tired and really didn't want to drive three hours to hike. After having a meltdown with God, Jessica decided she couldn't go and needed to tell Salam that they would have to reschedule. Soon after, Jessica read her Saint Mother Teresa quote of the day which read, "Do not be afraid of a life of sacrifice." Sooooo knowing Salam really wanted to go, Jessica knew she needed to go. We got to Glacier Point at three in the morning and after Jessica's second meltdown of the evening, we decided to take a nap before setting out for a hike. When we woke, it was still dark so we set out and found a view to watch the sun rise. The first light was just starting to show, revealing Half Dome and the Yosemite valley in front of us. Salam was trying to find the perfect rock to set his phone up for a picture while Jessica was taking it all in (thinking, why isn't he here watching this, it’s so gorgeous!) Little did she know that he brought his camera to record what was going to happen. Salam came and sat next to Jessica and they took in the beautiful scenery. Jessica rested her head on his shoulder and heard his heart beat fast…then Salam pulled out a ring and proposed! Jessica was so surprised that she just started laughing and eventually managed to say yes. We had decided to pick out a ring together and had just looked at rings a couple days before so a proposal, much less a ring was not expected. In fact, he had the ring before he asked to look for the ring together, sneaky! After we calmed down and Salam revealed that he had recorded the whole event, we broke out our tea and pastries and enjoyed the sunrise.